Joe Heving started pitching in the majors at age 30 and pitched his last game 15 years later.

One of major league’s pioneering relief pitchers, Joe Heving had a very fine rookie season at age 30 in 1930 with the old New York Giants, saving 6 games and posting a major league leading seven relief wins and also led the NL in relief losses with five. After going 1-6 the next season and then pitching in the minors in 1932, Joe Heving signed with the Chicago White Sox in 1933 and had a very fine season, a 7-5 record, including a 5-1 record in relief plus 5 saves with a solid 2.67 earned run average. After a disappointing 1-7 in 1934 the White Sox sent him to the minors for more experience.

Armed with an arsenal of newly learned pitches learned in the minors, including slow curves, sidearm and three quarter arm deliveries, the 6 ft 1 inch, 185 pound relief specialist progressively got better and better. In 1937 Joe Heving went 8-4 with the Cleveland Indians, and after relieving in 3 games with the Indians in 1938 he was sold to the Red Sox and posted a splendid 8-1 for the second place Red Sox. In 1939 Joe Heving went 11-3, and once more led the majors in relief wins with 11 and in saves with 7. In 1940 he had a 12-7 record and led the AL with 8 relief wins, and then, to the dismay of Red Sox fans was sold back to Cleveland in 1941. In 1944 at age 44 Joe Heving led the majors with 63 games, 62 of them in relief, finishing with an 8-3 record with astingy career-best 1.96 ERA. After pitching 3 games in early 1945 his arm gave out and he returned to Covington Kentucky, the town where he was born. Note: Joe Heving's older brother, Johnnie, was a major league catcher for eight years. Baseball History

Pitching Statistics

Year

Team

G

GS

W

L

SV

CG

SHO

IP

H

R

ER

HR

BB

IBB

SO

WP

HBP

BK

ERA

1930

NYG (NL)

41

2

7

5

6

0

0

89.2

109

57

52

7

27

0

37

2

1

0

5.22

1931

NYG (NL)

22

0

1

6

3

0

0

42.1

48

27

23

4

11

0

26

0

2

0

4.89

1933

CHW (AL)

40

6

7

5

6

3

1

118.0

113

50

35

6

27

0

47

1

2

0

2.67

1934

CHW (AL)

33

2

1

7

4

0

0

88.0

133

85

71

12

48

0

40

3

3

0

7.26

1937

CLE (AL)

40

0

8

4

5

0

0

72.2

92

53

39

6

30

0

35

2

2

0

4.83

1938

BOS (AL)

16

11

8

1

2

7

1

82.0

94

35

34

5

22

0

34

0

1

1

3.73

1938

CLE (AL)

3

0

1

1

0

0

0

6.0

10

8

6

0

5

0

0

0

0

0

9.00

1939

BOS (AL)

46

5

11

3

7

1

0

107.0

124

65

44

8

34

0

43

3

2

1

3.70

1940

BOS (AL)

39

7

12

7

3

4

0

119.0

129

63

53

7

42

0

55

1

3

0

4.01

1941

CLE (AL)

27

3

5

2

5

2

1

70.2

63

21

18

2

31

0

18

0

1

1

2.29

1942

CLE (AL)

27

2

5

3

3

0

0

46.1

52

28

25

4

25

0

13

0

2

0

4.86

1943

CLE (AL)

30

1

1

1

9

0

0

72.0

58

23

22

1

34

0

34

1

2

0

2.75

1944

CLE (AL)

63

1

8

3

10

0

0

119.2

106

42

26

2

41

0

46

1

2

0

1.96

1945

BSN (NL)

3

0

1

0

0

0

0

5.1

5

2

2

0

3

0

1

0

1

0

3.38

14 years

430

40

76

48

63

17

3

1038.2

1136

559

450

64

380

0

429

14

24

3

3.90

Batting Statistics

Year

Team

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

SB

CS

IBB

HBP

SH

SF

AVG

OBP

SLG

1930

NYG (NL)

41

22

2

5

1

0

0

0

0

3

0

0

0

0

2

0

.227

.227

SLG

1931

NYG (NL)

22

8

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

2

0

.125

.125

SLG

1933

CHW (AL)

40

38

3

8

2

0

0

0

1

4

0

0

0

0

1

0

.211

.231

SLG

1934

CHW (AL)

33

27

2

5

3

0

0

1

3

6

0

0

0

0

0

0

.185

.267

SLG

1937

CLE (AL)

40

19

3

5

1

0

0

3

0

1

0

0

0

0

2

0

.263

.263

SLG

1938

CLE (AL)

3

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

.0

.0

SLG

1938

BOS (AL)

16

30

2

4

1

0

0

2

1

7

0

0

0

0

3

0

.133

.161

SLG

1939

BOS (AL)

46

32

5

6

1

0

0

3

0

4

0

0

0

0

3

0

.188

.188

SLG

1940

BOS (AL)

39

40

4

8

0

0

0

6

3

6

0

0

0

1

2

0

.200

.273

SLG

1941

CLE (AL)

27

15

0

0

0

0

0

2

3

2

0

0

0

0

1

0

.0

.167

SLG

1942

CLE (AL)

27

7

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

.0

.125

SLG

1943

CLE (AL)

30

14

0

1

0

0

0

0

3

2

0

0

0

0

2

0

.71

.235

SLG

1944

CLE (AL)

63

22

1

4

0

0

0

1

0

5

0

0

0

0

2

0

.182

.182

SLG

1945

BSN (NL)

3

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

.0

.0

SLG

14 years

430

276

23

47

9

0

0

18

15

42

0

0

0

1

22

0

.170

.216

.SLG

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